IT Employment

Question

I am looking to get my CCNA certification

I am interested in getting my CCNA certificaion, however I was wondering what the steps where to getting started. What I wanted to know is if I need to or should get an A+ certification, Network + certificaion, or MCP certificaion first. If anybody could guide me I would appreciate it. Thanks again in advance.

All Answers

free courses

at acm.org, with $99/year, self paced.since you are in CA, there are a couple cisco live instructor courses at saisoft.net/schedule.html(free for people in CA only)

the acm offers 2,500 skillsoft / netg courses plus 1,100 books you can read online. I'm currently running a dift set of courses on that site. computer.org (the IEEE org) has a dift set of courses from element-k online for about the same price. Both these orgs have many other benefits and look good on your resume.

if you have the money to take the tests, it builds your confidence to take the easier certs 1st as you mentioned. I may take security + shortly.

Thanks,

Thanks a lot for the replies all this information has been really helpful. Yeah, I think I am going to go get my A+ Certification and N+ certification first to get started, then start preparing for the CCNA exam. I'm currently going to school pursuing a bachelors degree in IT, but I figured that taking these exams while I was still in school would allow me to certify specific skill sets to go along with my degree, and I could possibly work or do an internship to gain experience in the IT industry and set me apart from the competition. Thanks a lot everyone for your help! I really appreciate it.

general advice

I took a while to get my CCNA because I wanted to pursue programming in college and networking was something I did in my spare time.

I was lucky enough to be a part of a the cisco network academy in high school. It was online coursware that was pretty thorough, but there was a lot more theory than is probably necessary for the exam. It was a two year program, and I finished the first year.

I took a six day boot camp that was available through my college, but I didn't benefit much from that and couldn't recommend it.

You pretty much need a classroom experience or a good quality online courseware. If you're a quick study and can handle the rigor of self-study, Cisco Press would be the authority, and they're exam prep guide was very helpful with pretty good pretests and post-tests to help you figure out where you're weak and need more study.

The A+ would be helpful in general if you're starting your career. If you thoroughly study for the CCNA the Network+ will be a cinch. You'll have to brush up and study a few additional objectives, but you'll already have a pretty solid footing.

Access to equipment or good simulation software is a must, and you should practice configuring and verifying the various routing protocols that are in the curriculum. ISDN and Frame Relay configuration is also on the exam, and you will get caught up and lose some points on those questions if you're not prepared to configure the basics.

mpumzi Server/Network Administrator

N+ course will give you a better understanding/Nework background.When ready then go and attend CCNA 640.802 exam number , after completing the course, I am sure you will be ready to take Cisco course exams.Good luck

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